Greetings, Mark Purdy’s loyal readers. This is Courtney Cronin, the Bay Area News Group’s multimedia sports reporter. As you may already know, Mark is currently in South America and is heading to Rio de Janiero later this week to begin his Olympic coverage duties.

Before he left, the two of us traversed the Bay Area to find the 10 most historic spots related to the summer Olympic games. Starting Wednesday, we’ll countdown those 10 places (we’ll do it in geographical order to make things simple), explain the history behind their significance and how they relate to the games about to take place in Brazil.

Check out the video below for a preview of what’s to come over the next four weeks. While Mark is on the ground in Rio, resident Olympics guru Elliott Almond will provide analysis and commentary from the United State on the large group of Bay Area Olympians vying for gold. We’ve got tons of video, stories and blogs coming your way, so make sure to keep an eye out for all of our Olympics content by visiting mercurynews.com.